


Down At Our Rendezvous

by my_mad_fatuation



Series: Three's Company, Too [4]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 21:50:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10727952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_mad_fatuation/pseuds/my_mad_fatuation
Summary: Finn and Rae start dating, which creates tension in the flat.





	Down At Our Rendezvous

Rae stayed hidden in her room until seven, worried that things would be awkward if she ran into Finn in the flat before their so-called “date” officially began. She was also having doubts about the whole thing, and wondered if maybe she should just hide in her room forever.

Nevertheless, she got herself ready as if she were going on a real date, even though it felt like a date with Finn didn’t really count, for some reason. She was having a hard time processing all the events of the day.

In the morning, she’d still been dating Dev, and went to see him and the lads play football in the park, and by the afternoon she was single again and Finn was asking her out. It was all a bit surreal. Yet here she was, wearing the burgundy skater dress he had complimented her on before, waiting for him to “pick her up” for their date.

There was a knock on her bedroom door just after seven, so she went and answered it to find Finn standing there, unsurprisingly.

“Evening,” he said with a slight bow, which made her laugh. He was wearing what she now recognized as his typical date-night outfit: a casual button-down shirt with trousers that weren’t made of denim. (As distinct from him typical non-date outfit of a t-shirt and jeans.)

“Good evening to you,” she replied as she curtsied.

“Shall we?” he added, holding out his arm with his elbow bent.

“Where are we going?” she asked when she hooked her arm with his.

“La Cuisine,” he responded with an exaggerated French accent.

“Where’s that?”

“The, uh, kitchen,” he said, nodding towards the door on the opposite side of the flat. “Where we will be dining on the finest vegetable stir fry that a guy with no money can buy.”

Rae laughed again and Finn led her towards the kitchen. They’d just sat down at the table when the kitchen door opened and Chloe walked in.

“Ooh, smells good in here,” she said as she took a seat. “What are we having?”

Finn and Rae exchanged glances before he replied, “Uh, we were sort of having a private dinner alone. Just the two of us.”

“What?” said Chloe, apparently confused.

“We’re on a date,” Rae said sheepishly.

Chloe looked back and forth between both of them. “Really? The two of you?”

They nodded.

“Well, finally! I thought I was going to have to watch you two pathetically pine for one another for ages!” she said.

“Yes, well…” said Finn. He looked at her expectantly.

“Yeah?” she replied, like she had no idea what he was getting at.

He gave her a fake smile and a look that said, “Piss off.”

“Oh, right, sorry!” Chloe stood up again. “I’ll just be in my room,” she said, grabbing an apple before leaving.

“She could have stayed,” Rae said to Finn.

“It’s not much of a date, then, is it?” he said.

“No offence, but this isn’t exactly what I pictured as a patented Finn date, either.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to give you the same treatment that I give all my dates.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

“Well, usually it’s dinner some place cheap, we split the bill, then back here for drinks and… stuff.”

“And that works?” she asked, scrunching up her face.

“You can get away with a lot when you’re as cute as I am,” he said with a grin.

“Clearly.” She rolled her eyes. “So, what, I’m not even worth splitting the cost at a cheap restaurant, then?”

“I thought this would be more… romantic,” he replied. “I even purposely did not put on candles, because I know you find melting wax creepy.”

“That is true.”

“I just figured this would be more your kind of thing,” he said. “No distractions. No pressure to be in front of other people while we try to make conversation. And you can always just go back to your room if you get sick of me and would rather read.”

“Good thinking,” she said, smiling a little.

***

When they finished their dinner and returned to the lounge, Chloe, who was sitting on the sofa in front of the television, looked up at them.

“Oh, sorry, did you want this room?” she asked. “I was going to watch a film, but I can watch on my computer, if you want.”

Rae was about to say something but Finn spoke up first.

“You don’t have to leave for us,” he said. “In fact, we could just all watch a film together, yeah? I mean, we’re still flatmates, right?”

“If that’s what you want…” Chloe said slowly.

Finn looked at Rae for her reaction.

“Yeah, sure,” she said after a minute, though she, in fact, was not sure. “Sounds good.”

She sat on the opposite end of the sofa from Chloe, in her usual spot, and Finn sat between them. She leaned away from him, towards the armrest, because she didn’t want it to seem like they were snuggling up while Chloe was in the room. Even though they all used to get snuggled up together while watching films before.

Chloe also leaned away from Finn, thinking it would be weird to get cozy with him now that he and Rae were officially dating.

Finn, however, spread his arms across the back of the sofa behind the girls, like he always did, and pulled them both into his sides. “We don’t usually all hang out like this on a Saturday night, do we?” he said.

“Usually you’re on a date,” Chloe pointed out.

“I am on a date,” he added, squeezing Rae in closer.

“You know what I meant.”

“You meant that usually my dates aren’t as cool with me living with two girls.” He squeezed Chloe as well.

“Something like that,” she said.

Rae couldn’t help but feel a little jealous that Finn was treating her and Chloe the same way as he used to, despite the fact that she was the one who was supposed to be dating him. She didn’t understand why he’d suggested they all watch a film, either. Didn’t he want to spend more time with her alone? Or was he sick of her already?

***

By the end of the film, Rae and Chloe were both practically falling asleep on Finn’s shoulders.

“What say we all get to bed?” he said, rubbing their arms to rouse them.

Rae snapped her head up, suddenly very awake. “What?”

“I mean you two to your beds and me to mine,” he added with a laugh.

“I call first dibs on the bathroom, though,” Chloe said quickly as she got up.

“So…” Finn said to Rae once Chloe was gone. “You should get to sleep, yeah?”

“I guess…” said Rae, looking at him like she was waiting for him to suggest something else.

“Goodnight, then,” he finally said before getting up as well.

That was it, she figured as he walked towards his bedroom alone. The end.

***

“Sorry for blocking you last night,” Chloe said to Rae when they got up the next morning. “I should have just stayed in here all night and left you two alone.”

“No, it’s fine,” said Rae. “I don’t think anything would have happened anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I think he’s lost interest in me,” she said. “He didn’t want to be alone with me, and once we were alone he didn’t even kiss me. He was always kissing me for fun before, and now, nothing. Not even a peck on the cheek.”

“Maybe he’s just taking things slowly,” Chloe suggested.

“Finn?” Rae replied with a sarcastic laugh. “That’s funny.”

“Maybe he thought you wanted to take things slowly, then, and he’s just being considerate.”

“If he were really considerate he would have asked me what I wanted.”

“Which is what?”

“I… don’t know, exactly…” she said.

***

Rae sat in bed with her laptop on her knees for a while after Chloe left to go shopping, but she eventually got bored and ventured out into the flat where she found Finn in the lounge playing a video game again.

“Hey,” she said quietly as she sat in her spot on the sofa.

“Hey,” he replied without looking at her.

“Look,” she added after a minute, “you don’t have to say anything. I get it. It’s not going to work.”

He paused his game and finally faced her. “What’s not going to work?”

“Us,” she said. “It was stupid of us to think it would work, but—”

“What? Why?”

“You obviously aren’t that interested, and I don’t have time for—”

“You think I’m not interested?” he asked, frowning. “Haven’t we been through this? Of course I am.”

“You were practically bending over backwards not to be alone with me after dinner last night, so I figured…”

He chuckled a little. “I just didn’t want to make Chloe feel left out in her own flat,” he said. “Trust me, I would rather be alone with you.”

“Really?”

“We’re alone now, right?” he added as he looked around briefly.

“Yeah…”

He set down his controller on the table and leaned back against the sofa. “C’m’ere.”

“Why?” she asked warily.

“I’m trying to show you that I’m interested.”

***

“Hello, Chloe, dear,” said the landlady when she and the landlord approached the building just as Chloe was returning from her shopping trip. “Doing some shopping?” she asked, noticing the bags in Chloe’s hands.

“Lots of birthdays coming up soon,” Chloe lied, hoping they weren’t judging her for the excessive number of bags she was carrying.

“Stanley, offer to help the poor girl with her bags,” the landlady told her husband.

“I’m fine, really,” said Chloe.

“No, no, I insist. Stanley, go on.”

The landlord grumbled as he took a couple of bags from Chloe’s arms and started carrying them up the steps behind her.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” she said once they reached her flat, even though she felt she could have managed perfectly fine on her own.

“Might as well carry these in for you,” he replied, gesturing with his head for her to open the door.

“Right,” she said, turning the handle of the unlocked door.

She was a little surprised when she got inside to see Finn and Rae together on the sofa, horizontally. It took her a moment to realize that the landlord could also see them, too, and she cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

Rae and Finn looked up to see Chloe and the landlord standing in the doorway and sprang apart suddenly.

“What is going on in here?” the landlord bellowed.

“It’s not what you think!” Finn said quickly, grabbing a cushion and holding it in his lap. “Rae’s just helping me rehearse for a play I’m auditioning for!”

The landlord narrowed his eyes at them. “Which play is it?”

“It’s a brand new one,” Finn explained. “You wouldn’t have heard of it. But in it there’s a scene where I have to make out with a lady, which I’ve obviously never done before—”

Chloe coughed out a laugh.

“—So Rae was helping me practice,” he continued. “That’s it!”

“It’s true!” Rae added. “He’s really terrible at it.”

He shot her a concerned glance, like he believed her for a moment, so she tensed her mouth as if to say, “Shut up and be cool.”

“I figured this was better than trying to practice with Archie,” he went on. “We’d probably get a bit side-tracked, if you know what I mean—”

“All right, all right! Enough! Rehearse for your darn play!” said the landlord, setting down the bags abruptly. “Just keep it tasteful. I’m leaving.”

Finn started laughing once the landlord was gone. “I can’t believe that worked.”

“You must make a very convincing gay man, if he can walk in on you fooling around with a girl and _literally hiding your boner with a cushion_ , and still believe that you’re gay,” said Chloe.

He looked down guiltily, having hoped that no one had noticed his cushion maneuver.

“Can I just suggest,” she added, “that if you’re going to continue rehearsing this ‘play,’ could you do it in your own room?”

“I think we’ve rehearsed enough for today,” said Rae, smoothing out her shirt.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to keep _rehearsing_ with him, per se, she just felt weird about doing it with Chloe in the flat.

“Besides,” she added, “I have to get ready for work tomorrow.”

“It’s four in the afternoon,” said Finn.

“Yes, well, I have a lot of getting ready to do,” she said. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Chloe set her bags down by the door and plonked herself on the sofa next to Finn once Rae was in her room. “What was that about?”

“We’re trying not to make you uncomfortable,” Finn explained. “This is your home, too, and you shouldn’t have to feel awkward or like you need to hide from us or give us extra privacy. Things don’t have to change around here.”

“Okay, but it’s all right if you guys want time together without me interfering,” she said.

“You won’t feel left out?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t have any interest in a three-way with the two of you, so—”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said with a chuckle. “We’re going to want to do other stuff together, like watch films, and I don’t want you to feel like you can’t join us,” he added. “But I also don’t want Rae to think that I don’t want to be alone with her. It’s just… complicated, trying not to leave anyone out.”

“Can I give you some advice, then?” she asked, and he nodded. “If you’re going to be in a relationship with Rae, then you have to put her needs before other people’s, including mine.”

“You’re saying we should cut you from the team?”

“What team?”

“Our team. The team of flatmates,” he said. “The three musketeers.”

“Nobody calls us that.”

“I call us that.”

“Since when?”

“Since now.”

“Look, we can still do some things as a group, but we don’t all need to hang out together all the time,” she said. “We’ve always spent time apart from one another; this is no different.”

“But now it’s Rae and me together and you all alone,” he said.

“No, actually, right now it’s you and me together and Rae all alone.”

“Oh. That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“It’s not great.”

“Should I talk to her?” he asked.

“Let me talk to her first,” she said as she got back up.

***

“Knock, knock,” Chloe said as she entered her and Rae’s bedroom.

“This is your room, you know,” said Rae. “You don’t need to say, ‘knock, knock.’”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” said Chloe. “You left in quite a hurry.”

“I… I was embarrassed.”

“I could tell.”

Rae dropped her head. “I can’t even imagine how weird this must be for you, having to see Finn and me together like that…”

“It’s not _that_ weird,” Chloe replied, taking a seat on her bed. “I mean, at least you had your clothes on. Not that I haven’t seen both of you naked already…”

“What? When have you seen Finn naked?”

“I walked into the bathroom a few months ago without realizing he was in the shower. Don’t worry about it.”

But Rae couldn’t stop worrying about it.

She hadn’t really considered that she was eventually going to have to get naked. _With Finn_. That part of the equation had sort of evaded her imagination up to this point.

“You know what we should do tonight?” she said suddenly, trying to think of some way to delay the inevitable. “We should have the whole gang over! We can get pizza and play board games – we haven’t seen the gang in ages!”

“We saw them all at football yesterday,” Chloe said.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t the same. We haven’t had the gang over just to hang out in a while.”

“Fine… You text them while I go shower.”

***

Rae was only able to get Archie to come over on such short notice – Izzy and Chop were having a quiet night in together and couldn’t be bothered.

“Evening, Mr. Roper,” Archie said as he walked past the landlord on his way up to the flat.

The landlord dumped his rubbish in the large bin outside before eyeing Archie suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to visit Finn and the girls.”

“To what end?”

“We’re going to play board games and eat pizza, I think,” said Archie.

“You’re not going to be rehearsing for any plays?”

“What?”

“That play Finn’s auditioning for,” said the landlord. “You’re not auditioning, too, are you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I found him on the sofa with the tall girl earlier today. Horizontally,” he said, with shifty eyes. “Said he was rehearsing for a play.”

“What do you mean, _horizontally_?” said Archie, looking both confused and amused.

The landlord went red. “Never mind,” he said, and hurried back into his flat.

By the time Archie got upstairs, Rae was already waiting for him with the door open.

“What took you so long?” she asked impatiently.

“I stopped to talk to your landlord,” he said. “I learned something interesting, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Apparently you’re helping Finn rehearse for a play?”

Rae turned red as well and Archie grinned.

“So, you and Finn, eh?” he added.

“Shut up and get in here,” she said, pulling him by the sleeve.

“Is this why you invited me over?” he asked as she shut the door behind him. “To tell me the big news in person?”

“There is no news, okay? We just… had a date last night.”

“And got horizontal this afternoon?”

“Nothing happened,” Rae hissed.

“Hey, Arch,” Finn said as he came out of the kitchen. “I didn’t know you were coming over tonight.”

“I thought we could have a night with the whole gang together,” said Rae quickly.

“Where’re Chop and Izzy, then?” he asked.

“They couldn’t make it.”

“So, it’s just the three of us plus Archie?”

“Gee, thanks,” said Archie. “Way to sound enthused.”

“It’s always good to see ya, buddy, it’s just a surprise,” said Finn.

“I thought Chloe would have told you,” Rae said.

“So, apparently none of us communicate around here anymore,” he added with a laugh. “Perfect.”

“You two had better work on that if you’re going to be gettin’ busy with each other,” said Archie.

Finn frowned at him and then looked at Rae questioningly.

“The landlord told him!” she said.

“Frankly, I knew it was just a matter of time,” Archie continued. “I mean, Finn, mate, you were so clearly jealous of Dev.”

“Thanks for your input, Arch,” said Finn.

“It’s kind of weird, though. I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with one of Finn’s girls, until now.”

“She’s not _one of my girls_ ,” he said defensively.

Rae could feel herself turning redder.

“I mean she’s not some anonymous blonde, you know?” he added.

“You don’t know their names?” Archie asked in disbelief.

“Of course I know their names! Usually…” said Finn. “You know what I meant!”

“What’s going on?” Chloe asked when she came out of her bedroom.

“I assume you know that these two are a thing now,” Archie said to her, pointing back and forth between Finn and Rae.

“Oh. Yeah, I know,” she said casually.

“And have you been mocking them mercilessly for it?”

“No…”

Archie shook his head. “What good are you, then?”

“Why do you need to mock us?” asked Finn.

“Because you’re both idiots for taking this long,” said Archie. “Especially you,” he added directly at Finn, who rolled his head back dramatically and sighed.

“Should I even ask why?” he said.

“It’s about time you grew up and settled down.”

“Jeez, we’re not getting married!” said Rae.

“I just mean it’ll be good for him not to flit from girl to girl anymore.”

“You make it sound like I broke him,” she said. “Besides, you don’t know that he’s not going to be on to some new girl next week, anyway.”

“Is that what you think?” Finn asked her, looking concerned.

“I’m just not counting my chickens yet,” she replied, arms folded. “You said yourself that you weren’t ready for a commitment, so it’s not like I expected you to change that much.”

He wanted to respond, but was suddenly acutely aware that they were not alone. “Look, can we go talk about this for a minute?” He took her arm and rushed her towards her bedroom, excusing himself from the others.

“Well, that’s…” Archie began.

“…Awkward,” said Chloe.

“Yeah…”

“You know, if we leave now, we can make the Sunday roast down at the pub,” she added after a minute.

“You’re on.”

***

“Okay, listen, I know I said I wasn’t ready for a commitment,” said Finn, holding onto Rae’s shoulders. “But that was before.”

“Before what?” asked Rae.

“Seeing you with someone else just made me realize that I could actually lose you – and that thought scared me more than the thought that I wouldn’t be able to see other girls anymore.” He dropped his face into his hand. “Ugh, I’m not explaining this right.”

“You’re like a kid with a toy,” she said. “You don’t need to play with the toy as long as it’s in the toy box, but as soon as someone else starts playing with the toy, it’s the only one you want.”

“That’s not true…”

“No? So you aren’t going to drop me when some shiny new toy comes along?” she asked, going over to take a seat on her bed.

“Let the record show that I’m not the one comparing women to toys right now,” he added.

That almost made her laugh. Almost.

“And, no, I’m not going to drop you for someone else,” he continued as he sat down next to her. “I actually like spending time with you, which is new for me. I don’t usually date girls I like to hang out with.”

“Then wouldn’t you rather we just stay as friends?” she said with her hands folded in her lap.

He picked up one of her hands and held onto it. “No, I wouldn’t,” he said before kissing the back of her hand. “There are things I want to do that I couldn’t if we were just friends. Or, at least, I probably shouldn’t.”

“Like what?” she asked, sneaking a glance at him.

He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“What about after that?” she said. “After you get what you want.”

“What I want,” he said, squeezing her hand tighter, “is to be with you. There is no _after_.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

“Okay, that sounded really corny,” he added. “But you know what I mean. And, yeah, I can’t promise that we’ll be together forever, but neither can you. You could drop me for a shiny new toy next week, too, and—”

“It’s okay, I get it,” she interrupted, chuckling a little. “I’m still not counting my chickens, but at least I won’t throw out the eggs.”

He smiled for a second then frowned in confusion. “Wait, what?”

“Never mind.”

***

“Where were you two?” Rae asked, sitting on the sofa with Finn when Chloe and Archie returned.

“At the pub,” Archie replied.

“Thought we’d give you guys some privacy,” said Chloe. “We weren’t sure if you two would be fighting or… something else.”

“We were just having a chat,” said Finn. He looked at Rae and winked, causing her to blush slightly.

“Right,” Archie said as he and Chloe exchanged glances.

“We’re only five minutes into this film if you want to join us,” Finn added. “We can restart.”

“Are you sure?” asked Chloe as she and Archie approached the other two.

“Yeah,” said Rae, pulling Finn closer to make room for the others. “Squish in.”


End file.
